Image credit: tvline.com
While Jenny Korn problematizes the gender stereotypes rampant in 30 Rock's series finale this past Thursday, it is emblematic of a host of television shows that were once promising sites of subversion (or at least a more nuanced conversation) of gender roles, yet have spectacularly failed to live up to those expectations. NBC's Up All Night, Parks & Rec, and even CBS's How I Met Your Mother have all rearranged character's personalities and lives, walking back any semblance of alternative gender performances.
While television often appears to be a leader in alternative representations of gender roles and relations, those appearances are often misleading. By presenting a family-friendly, de-clawed version of feminism to audiences that ultimately ends in fairy tale romance, the goals of feminism are subtly undercut. Keeping these messages covert prevents healthy conversations about those messages; featuring Leslie Knope fighting for workplace equality allows the networks to present, simultaneously, traditional, oppressive, and subjugating notions of womanhood under the guise of "popular feminism."
